The Drop (2014) Directed by Michaël R. Roskam. Starring: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, & James Gandolfini. IMDB says: “Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood’s past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living – no matter the cost.”
The Drop takes place mostly at a bar, Cousin Marv’s, owned by Marv (James Gandolfini), and tended by Bob (Tom Hardy). Cousin Marv’s is a drop bar for the local crime organization, who randomly picks bars to receive illicitly acquired money to safe hold until the organization pick it up.
The story really follows two threads. One deals with the aftermath of Cousin Marv’s being held up which puts Marv and Bob in a difficult spot with the gangsters. The other begins when Bob finds an abused pit bull puppy abandoned in a trash can while walking home one day. Bob does not want the dog, but eventually takes pity on it and takes it in. He shares the responsibility with Nadia (Noomi Rapace) whose trashcan he found the dog in.
The first half of the movie throws a lot at you at first. It’s not a matter of the film being too complicated, but there’s just a lot of different aspects of the story going on at once. These aspects do all eventually begin to tie into each other and the pay off of the conclusion feels more than worth the build up.
Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace both do well playing their characters like they have been through some shit. The way Noomi is tense around Hardy’s character tells a lot of back story without the movie having to show it. James Gandolfini is great showing a wider range of emotion than in his previous film, Enough Said, with the same subtlety. I think a big draw to these characters is that the actors portraying them all seem to have a really good sense of who that character is.
Definitely a film about characters, The Drop does nicely at making them feel like familiar people, while the details and performances elevate them to a level that makes them very unique. This, mixed with an intriguing story that reels you in the further along you watch, makes The Drop a great film.
We’ve seen these tales of crime drama unfold time after time, so when there’s a unique spin on the genre it’s fun to watch. The thing about The Drop is while all of it feels like you’ve been there, there’s really some solid stuff to set it apart. It all hinges on some interesting characters.
At the top, you have Tom Hardy who once again shows how great he is at morphing into whatever is asked of him. Here he’s a simple Brooklyn man, bartending for regulars, going to church, taking in a stray dog, all while doing his part in illegal dealings. He’s got a calmness to him that’s fascinating as he goes about his routines, with this odd sense of humor that makes him feel like a unique character put in a familiar situation.
Hardy has an amazing partner in Gandolfini who plays the tough owner and namesake of Cousin Marv’s. He’s sort of only tough as far as you can throw him though, in that he’s very supplicant to the Chechen gangsters using his bar as a drop location. It’s an interesting dynamic to see Gandolfini somewhat neutered in this role. This being his last role on screen, it aches deeply that we’ve lost his talent.
The other two cast members that bring some different cards to the table are Noomi Rapace and Matthias Schoenaerts. By the way, I love all the European actors along with Belgian director Michaël R. Roskam taking over this Brooklyn story. Noomi plays a woman who’s a bit jaded after some damaging years in her life. She’s rough on the edges without being a caricature. Schoenaerts and Roskam are best known for their collaboration in the Oscar nominated Bullhead (which has been in my damn queue forever). Schoenaerts plays a mentally unstable neighborhood dweller that gets wrapped up in the events that unfold. This actor is phenomenally unsettling. I’m so happy he’s on my radar now.
The Drop stands a cut above some lesser features like it because these characters are just really interesting to watch. The plot shifts the dynamic between them enough to keep you on your toes, while throwing in some actual curveballs. It’s written by Dennis Lehane, the author of the novel adapted to Gone Baby Gone so it’s fair to expect something in the same vein. Just give it a shot, and hey, at the bare minimum you get to watch Hardy rescue a puppy – the most adorable thing in theaters all year.
